OUR UNBEARABLE BOND

Woman's Own shares an extract from Safiyya Vorajee's book about her daughter's death from leukaemia

Rest in peace princess’ were the heartbreaking words that told the world baby Azaylia had died. Former footballer Ashley Cain, 31, and his then girlfriend Safiyya Vorajee, 34, had just eight short months with their daughter before she passed away in April 2021 after a battle with acute myeloid leukaemia. Ashley had written on Instagram, ‘Rest in peace princess, I will always hold you in my heart.’

Since then, Safiyya and Ashley have set up The Azaylia Foundation, supporting children with cancer. But while they continue to work on the foundation together, the couple announced in March 2022, a month before the first anniversary of Azaylia’s death, that they had decided to split.

And now, Safiyya has laid her grief and heartache bare in her new book, Loving and Losing You, Azaylia: My Inspirational Daughter and Our Unbreakable Bond. Here, Woman’s Own shares an extract.

HARD TO TAKE IN

My phone rang again, sending more shockwaves through my body. Mum was on loudspeaker so we could both hear, but my head was in that bucket of water again, the words distorted as they bubbled into my brain. ‘Her white blood cell count is very high.’ Mum still sounded in control but there was an anxious edge to her voice now. The tears were splashing down my face and I couldn’t stop crying long enough to get two words out.

‘What does that mean?’ It was Ashley who was speaking now. ‘What’s normal? What’s it meant to be?’